Bespoke
#Contemporary dance at its most daring and dynamic.
Edgy, contemporary and entirely original, Bespoke returns for a season of dynamic new works created by renowned local and international choreographers. Expect a colourful merging of classical technique with emotional depth in a trio of contemporary works that explores what dance is and how far it can go.
Three innovative choreographers will collaborate with dancers and artists to create three bright new pieces of storytelling inspired by music, visual art, and emotion.
Wakka Wakka and Kombumerri choreographer Katina Olsen joins us for the first time, from a career spanning from Bangarra Dance Theatre to companies throughout Australia and internationally. Milena Sidorova is an award-winning Ukrainian-Dutch choreographer and Young Creative Associate at the Dutch National Ballet. Australian choreographer and Queensland Ballet Associate Choreographer Jack Lister has created mainstage works for Queensland Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Australasian Dance Collective to critical and audience acclaim.
Now in its seventh year, Bespoke offers audiences an opportunity to witness elite ballet dancers in exciting modern spaces. Intricately detailed, musically brilliant, and always alluring, this new season will ignite the senses and entice audiences into a realm of artistic possibility.
Program
Katina Olsen - gundirgan, wise woman
Milena Sidorova - Birds of Paradise
Jack Lister - Papillon
Our gratitude goes to Marion Pender for generously supporting the Southern Cross Soloists collaboration in this production.
Music for Katina Olsen’s work is performed and commissioned by Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) and the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project, composed by Seán O’Boyle AM and Chris Williams, featuring Wakka Wakka didgeridoo soloist and SXS Artist in Residence, Chris Williams.
Milena Sidorova and Jack Lister’s works will be performed to recorded music.
Katina Olsen
Choreographer - gundirgan, wise woman
Milena Sidorova
Choreographer - Birds of Paradise
Jack Lister
Choreographer - Papillon
Southern Cross Soloists
Musicians - gundirgan, wise woman
Ben Hughes
Lighting Designer
Louis Frere-Harvey
Composer - Papillon
Program
A complimentary printed program is available at the performance. We encourage you to please take one between two. You can also download the Bespoke program here.
Cast sheets
Find out which dancers will be performing before you attend. All performance cast sheets for Bespoke are available below. Cast sheets are subject to changes, but updated daily.
#gundirgan, wise woman
"Celebrating the extraordinary life of Wakka Wakka woman Aunty Maureen Williams, we follow her life from a young child growing up in the bush speaking fluent Wakka Wakka, to walking between two worlds. These were her Culture and working as a domestic servant from the age of 10, so that generations after her would be free from the poverty she faced as an Aboriginal woman.
Opening with the spirit of our sacred place, Ban Ban Springs, witnessing the unbroken practice of passing on Cultural knowledge from generation to generation. From the hard yakka and adversity, she faced, we see the resilience she gained from Country, her Culture and her commitment to open the doors for the generations after her.
Aunty Maureen believed that having a good education together with a strong work ethic would build a solid foundation to achieve great things in life. Today, as a result of her remarkable vision, strength and steadfast determination, we see her incredible generational legacy with five of her seven children having university degrees (some multiple), the majority of her grandchildren and now even great grandchildren, having all completed university.
I’d like to acknowledge Uncle Professor Kevin Williams, Aunty Sue-Ann Williams, Aunty Patricia Lieschke and Chris Williams for their Cultural guidance and entrusting myself, Tara and the Queensland Ballet to perform this story. Immense gratitude to Aunty Maureen Williams and all our Blak matriarchs for rising against incredible adversity to break open the gates so that we all may thrive."
– Choreographer Katina Olsen
gundirgan is the Wakka Wakka language name for female clever person.
#Birds of Paradise
"What if the mesmerising behaviours of birds-of-paradise mirrored our own search for companionship? The courtship rituals of these magnificent birds, such as the elaborate dances, intricate nest building, and vivid displays - are more than just a natural spectacle; they reflect our own search for connection and love.
In the same way that birds-of-paradise dress up in their finest feathers and perform captivating dances to attract mates, humans engage in similar rituals. Whether it’s dressing up to impress, competing for attention, building lasting partnerships, or navigating the world of online dating, these birds remind us that the quest for companionship is a universal dance.
This ballet celebrates our search for attraction, connection, and the universal quest for love and belonging. While inspired by the captivating behaviors of birds-of-paradise, it is ultimately a celebration of beauty and complexity of our shared humanness." – Choreographer Milena Sidorova
#Papillon
"Two halves of a whole. Forever and never again."
– Choreographer Jack Lister
"My intent for the first ten minutes of the work was to create a very slow brooding atmosphere, using traditional western classical instrument performed with unconventional techniques. As this section progresses, the instruments are pushed and squeaked to create a sense of tension and ugliness within what might be conceived as a beautiful state. This is an attempt to indicate the papillon’s struggle through its first two phases of life, the egg and the larva. Whilst it will inevitably transform through metamorphosis into a winged beauty, the path there is slow and relatively ugly.
A two-minute interlude follows. Jack hits the audience with a quick play in symmetry, creating a mirrored kaleidoscopic effect within the choreography. The accompanying sounds were developed from imagining a butterfly larva pushing, scratching, squirming and pulling within the pupa, achieved through utilising the instruments from the first section and exploring what might happen when pushed to their limits.
Human voices are also introduced here for the first time. Assisting the dancers to feel attached to the music whilst they are moving is my ultimate goal, and what better way than to have their recorded voices within the score!
We then proceed to the final ten minutes of the work, which is papillon in its final metamorphosed form. This section is rhythmic, textural, colourful and energetic, just a sample of the nuance required to represent a papillon exiting the cocoon for its first time, absorbing the world as if emerging from plato’s cave. The music here is designed to push and pull the dancers through the space, as if they’re flying as one giant symmetrical, kaleidoscopic being.
None of what I just said is true. We attach meaning to work however we desire when we experience something for the first time. How will you find meaning in this score?"
– Composer Louis Frere-Harvey
